There's plenty of brick busting games on the Store right now, but Block Breaker Deluxe 2 (that's a mouthful, so it's going to be called BBD2 for the rest of the review) stands out. It does so because there's some real depth to the game, including a great selection of modes, different powerups and new gameplay mechanics to keep you hooked.

The bulk of the gameplay is in the Quick Game mode, and it's from here that you'll be unlocking various modes of play and collecting cash so that you can upgrade abilities (like power up strength), or buy lives. Each island (there are 8 in total) has it's own collection of levels with a boss level at the end. Some of these are quite clever, for instance the first one is a poke at Space Invaders, and has aliens you must take out, with the spaceship at the top firing power ups if you hit it. The controls are very simple, you slide your finger from left to right on the control strip at the bottom, and your paddle is offset so that you can see the collision between it and the ball. In addition, some levels have groups of blocks that can be moved around by tilting your iPhone. This adds a fantastic twist to the genre.

When you're in a level, you notice that there's so much going on that you become fixated to the screen. Every time a ball collides with a brick, a deluge of power ups (there are lots, but they include laser cannons, missile launchers, multiple balls and extra lives) and hazards (again, lots, but include paddle slow, fast balls, small paddle and mirror control) spew from the exploded remains. There's enough incentive to get the bonus modifiers, and the hazards make it more difficult to pass a level. Instead of scoring, you'll earn cash for breaking blocks, or passing a level in the required time limit, and lose it when you lose all of your lives. On the later levels, you lose a lot more cash, so it's worth purchasing a few life packs before you begin. And when the boss level has been defeated, you'll unlock one of the 8 other game modes, some of which are throwaway, but each offer a different style of play to the Quick game. There's even a random level generator, so you won't get bored by the same levels over and over. The cooperative two person mode is also great, you share 5 lives and try to work through multiple levels together.

BBD2's presentation is pretty good. There's plenty of eye candy during levels, and level sets have their own backdrops. The whole experience is club-like, and so there's a great dance soundtrack to put you in the mood, coupled with some good looking rivals that taunt you between stages. The power up announcements could be dropped though, they're just annoying. Or maybe that's just us, we don't like game announcers very much.

BBD2 retains a lot from the classic brick breaking games of yore, and adds some new twists and colourful presentation. Some of the new modes we could do without, but if you can't do without a breakout clone on your iPhone, you won't go wrong here. It's certainly a bargain at it's current price on the App Store.

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